IT’S considered the most important document in the English speaking world and it has made its way to Tenterfield.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While only a replica, the School of Arts is currently hosting the Magna Carta and an exhibition detailing its importance to today’s society.
Rule of Law Institute of Australia Chief Executive Officer Nick Clark ventured from Canberra with the exhibit last week and was on hand to help set up.
The exhibit has made its way from the High Court of Australia to Tenterfield and Mr Clark said the next stops on the tour were NSW Parliament House and the Supreme Court of Victoria.
“I think there is a beautiful parallel between the Magna Carta and the Federation speech given in this room,” Mr Clark said.
The exhibition tells the story of the Magna Carta and is focussed around the replica of the 1215 Salisbury Magna Carta commissioned by the Rule of Law Institute of Australia.
The story of the Magna Carta is told through a series of illustrations with words suitable for younger audiences
Mr Clark said he was hopeful the exhibit would make people consider the modern relevance of principles such as the rule of law, democracy and the presumption of innocence.
Central to the exhibit and the history of Magna Carta is King John of England.
“He was the typical medieval king – known to be quite brutal and horrible,” Mr Clark said.
King John has taken on an image of that of a pantomime villain over the years.
A failure and brute who lost lands, civil wars and handed the realm over to the Pope.
“When the long tally is added, it will be seen that the British nation and the English-speaking world owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns; for it was through the union of many forces against him that the most famous milestone of our rights and freedom was in fact set up,” Winston Churchill once said.
Mr Clark said he hoped people, students especially, would resonate with the story and potentially learn something in the process.
“It’s not something really covered in school unless you study Law or Human Rights. I think there is a feeling with the boomers generation that we learnt something that our children and grandchildren are not learning.
“We kind of see this as a way to get kids into law – the evil king brought down and made to follow the law,” he said.
The exhibit is on show at the School of Arts now and until July 24.
